Will the new taxi surcharge make you hail fewer cabs?

Starting Nov. 1, all New York taxi fares will include a 50-cent surcharge, increasing the base rate from $2.50 to $3. The taxi surcharge is part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $2.3 billion bailout package, passed earlier this year, which is aimed at averting draconian mass-transit fare increases.

The real problem is that getting around NYC today takes twice as long as it did 10 years ago. For elderly people like myself, getting to and from the subway is especially tough in winter, worse yet in a neighborhood where the crime rate is up even in daylight! (Thank you Mayor Liar)

As for cabs, no thanks, they are too expensive and drive like maniacs – I’ll be damned if I’ll pay steep prices to sit in a cab and have a heart attack!

The fare increase is one problem. Bloomberg’s war on cars is a bigger one. I live in Brooklyn and have to use my car for both business and private activities, as my children live with my ex-wife in Manhattan. Due to the insane closing of lanes throughout the city, my regular commute times have increased by 15-20%. This means wasted productivity, idling cars, more used fuel, more pollution, and more road rage. This is what happens when politicians live inside their own thought bubbles.

Shame there is no competition in this year’s mayoral elections, as it’s time for Bloomberg to move to a condo at the Del Boca Vista development in Florida. And stay there.